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1 week ago | 
seenandheard-international.com | Rick Perdian
United States R. Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Goldberg – ‘The Wadsworth Legacy’: Soloists. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, New York, 2.5.2025. (RP)On 11 September 1969, the strains of a Baroque trio sonata was the first music heard in Alice Tully Hall. It was also the first concert by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, founded by Charles Wadsworth. On 2 May 2025, CMS celebrated ‘The Wadsworth Legacy’ with a concert that opened with the same music in the same hall.
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1 week ago | 
newyorkclassicalreview.com | Rick Perdian
Parlando concluded its season with the launch of “The Cabaret Project” at Merkin Hall on Thursday evening. Running less than an hour, the concert showcased works by composers outside the mainstream, featuring colorful orchestrations and an interesting backstory. It proved the kind of imaginative and historically grounded musical experience expected from Ian Niederhoffer, founder and conductor of Parlando. The story began in the late 1880s in Paris, where cabaret originated.
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2 weeks ago | 
newyorkclassicalreview.com | Rick Perdian
Strauss’s Salome returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday evening in a new production by Glaus Gunth. It is Gunth’s first assignment at the Met, coming rather late in the 61-year-old German opera director’s career. For those who have wondered why a sixteen-year-old girl can be so emotionally twisted and sexually depraved, he provides one answer. With the house completely dark, a small girl in a black velvet dress with a white collar and black bow appears center stage with a doll.
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2 weeks ago | 
classicalvoiceamerica.org | Rick Perdian
PITTSBURGH — Color is at the heart of Jennifer Higdon’s new chamber opera, Woman with Eyes Closed, which premiered at Pittsburgh Opera on April 27. Her scintillating score was inspired by works of art by Lucian Freud, Gauguin, Matisse, Meyer de Hahn, Monet, and Picasso that were stolen from the Kunsthal Rotterdam in 2012 and never recovered. The opera is based on the robbery, but it is not a whodunit.
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2 weeks ago | 
seenandheard-international.com | Rick Perdian
United States Aaron Siegel, Rainbird: Soloists, Sugar Vendil (keyboards), Andie Tanning (strings), Jess Tsang (percussion). Experiments in Opera, Mabou Mines, New York, 17.4.2025.
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3 weeks ago | 
seenandheard-international.com | Rick Perdian
United States Stainer, The Crucifixion: Sean Fallen (tenor), Nathaniel Sullivan (baritone), Alistair Reid (organist), Chancel Choir / Raymond Nagem (conductor). The Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, 18.4.2025. (RP)Sir John Stainer had been dead for more than twenty years when his most enduring work, The Crucifixion, was first performed at The Brick Presbyterian Church on Good Friday in 1924.
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3 weeks ago | 
seenandheard-international.com | Rick Perdian
United Kingdom Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Giacomo Sagripanti (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 15.4.2025. (RP)Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia is back at the Metropolitan Opera, and what a delight it is. Alchemy didn’t make this magic happen, just the tried-and-true: it only took a star-studded cast, traditional staging and a lighter-than-air performance of Rossini’s brilliant score.
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1 month ago | 
seenandheard-international.com | Rick Perdian
United States Various: Erin Morley (soprano), Gerald Martin Moore (piano). Board of Officers Room, Park Avenue Armory, New York, 11.4.2025. (RP)The weather did not cooperate on a cold, wet evening. Still, a beautiful bouquet of songs was coaxed into bloom by soprano Erin Morley and pianist Gerald Martin Moore at the Park Avenue Armory. Flowers – and bird songs too – have always inspired poets and composers. This enchanting recital featured some of the most enticing such creations ever imagined.
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1 month ago | 
seenandheard-international.com | Rick Perdian
United States Bach, St. John Passion: Soloists, La Chapelle de Québec, Orchestra of St. Luke’s / Bernard Labadie (conductor). Carnegie Hall, New York, 10.4.2025. (RP)Bach – St. John Passion, BWV 244Andrew Haji (tenor) – EvangelistPhilippe Sly (bass-baritone) – JesusJoélle Harvey (soprano)Hugh Cutting (countertenor)Samuel Boden (tenor)William Thomas (bass) – PilateFor his final appearance as principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Bernard Labadie chose Bach’s St. John Passion.
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1 month ago | 
classicalvoiceamerica.org | Rick Perdian
VERSAILLES — Jean-Romain Vesperini’s new production of Donizetti’s La fille du régiment for L’Opéra royal du château de Versailles is a pure delight. The opening-night performance on April 4 was brilliant and fizzy, equally enjoyable for its wit and humor as for the energy and élan of the musical performance. The theater in which it was performed made the occasion even more special, particularly for someone experiencing opera at Versailles for the first time.
